Martial Arts News

Joilton Lutterbach’s Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure has ended before he was able to set foot into the Octagon.

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On Tuesday, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) announced that Lutterbach tested positive for a metabolite of the anabolic steroid drostanolone in an out-of-competition sample collected on June 8. That test occurred two weeks before Lutterbach was scheduled to face Sharabutdin Magomedov at UFC on ABC 6 in Saudi Arabia.

Lutterbach was notified of his positive test on June 20 at the fighter hotel in Saudi Arabia, where he admitted use of the banned substance. Because he did not declare the use of drostanolone before being tested, he received a two-year suspension from CSAD. Additionally, the UFC has terminated his contract with the promotion. Lutterbach will be eligible to return to active competition on June 23, 2026.

“I actually used juice [three] months ago and had no idea I would sign with the UFC,” Lutterbach wrote on Instag…

Highly-touted prospect Paul Hughes will be taking a significant step up in competition for his next fight.

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A lightweight clash pitting Hughes against A.J. McKee has been targeted for Professional Fighters League’s upcoming pay-per-view event on Oct. 19. MagicM MMABets first brought word of the pairing on social media, and it was later confirmed by MMAFighting.com. The promotion has yet to formally announce the bout.

The PFL Super Fights Event, entitled "Battle of the Giants: Brace for Impact,"is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira. In the co-main event, Cristiane Justino will square off against Larissa Pacheco. The card will air on pay-per-view, likely through ESPN+.

A former Cage Warriors champion, Hughes ended a high-profile free agent period by signing with the PFL. He made his debut with Bellator – which is also owned by PFL – on June 22, when he defeated Bobby King via second-round TKO. “Big News…

Antonio Carlos Jr. won’t be fighting on Friday night as originally expected, but the Brazilian will remain an alternate for the Professional Fighters League light heavyweight playoffs.

Carlos Jr. was slated to face Karl Albrektsson at PFL 8 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, but the promotion recently announced that the 205-pound clash has been removed from the card. However, “Cara de Sapato” will be available to fill in should anything go awry for the four light heavyweight semfinalists.

PFL 8 features semifinal bouts at both light heavyweight and lightweight. The card is headlined by a rematch of a 2023 final, as Impa Kasanganay squares off against Joshua Silveira at 205 pounds. The main draw airs on ESPN and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream via ESPN+ beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

Carlos Jr. returned from a hiatus that lasted nearly two years for the 2024 PFL season. After submitting Simon Biyong at PFL 2, the 34-year-…

Dan Hooker claims that Israel Adesanya is physically different going into UFC 305.

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Adesanya challenges Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title in the main event at UFC 305 on Saturday in Perth, Australia. Hooker, who is his City Kickboxing teammate, also competes on the same card against Mateusz Gamrot in matchup of lightweight contenders.

Hooker recently revealed that Adesanya has primarily been working on his strength and conditioning during his 10-month layoff, the longest of his career. And Hooker can not only see the effects of that in Adesanya’s physique but also feels them in sparring.

“So honestly, he’s hitting like an ox right now,” Hooker told Fox Sports Australia. “And hitting harder than I’ve ever seen before. He really is looking scary. In all the time off, Izzy did nothing but work with his strength and conditioning coach, lift weights, doing all of this stuff.

“There’s just a voice in the back of your head now that’s sayi…

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Steve Erceg’s father initially provided the motivation for one of the world’s best flyweights to not give up on mixed martial arts.

Erceg will look to get back into title contention against Kai Kara-France in the co-main event at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, on Saturday. The Australian looks to bounce back from a hard-fought title loss against Alexandre Pantoja, where he silenced his doubters who considered him undeserving of the title shot in the first place.

Erceg recently revealed that he was about to leave the sport almost as soon as he started training. Erceg was first intrigued by the sport of MMA when he saw Frank Mir submit a visibly larger Brock Lesnar at UFC 81 in 2008. The urge to figure out how Mir did what he did led Erceg to Wilkies Martial Arts at the age of 14.

While Erceg had started training with the intention of competing, he was joined by his father Matthew Erceg, who needed to lose some weight. However, it was “Astro …

Israel Adesanya expects Dricus Du Plessis to immediately shoot for a takedown in their upcoming title fight.

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Adesanya will challenge Du Plessis for the middleweight title in the main event at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, on Saturday. A well-versed mixed martial artist, Du Plessis has an almost equal number of knockouts (nine) and submissions (10) among his 19 career finishes. While he is primarily considered a wrestler, Du Plessis has proven his ability to strike at an elite level with knockout wins over the likes of Derek Brunson and Robert Whittaker in the UFC.

However, Adesanya, who is considered one of the greatest strikers in the history of the sport, doubts Du Plessis will be willing to stand with him. The former Glory Kickboxing standout believes “Stillknocks” will be looking for the takedown from the get-go, a strategy for which he is prepared. Boasting a takedown defense rate of 77%, “The Last Stylebender” recalls handling a number of top-…

Are these the best ones yet?! 😍

Buy your own pair here: https://t.co/CEOVt2EWZD | #UFC305 pic.twitter.com/ylUWbhjuez

— UFC (@ufc) August 13, 2024

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Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya will have some special attire for their championship headliner at UFC 305.

The Las Vegas-based promotion revealed the custom fight shorts that the middleweight combatants will wear for their bout at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night. The shorts are specially made by Venum, the official outfitter of the UFC.

UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now! Du Plessis claimed the middleweight crown with a split-decision triumph over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 on Jan. 20. The 30-year-old South African will carry a nine-bout winning streak into his grudge match with Adesanya. He also owns notable victories over the likes of Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson and Darren Till.

Adesanya is returning to…

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Mateusz Gamrot claims Dustin Poirier’s last fight against Islam Makhachev is proof that “Gamer” is the best wrestler in the lightweight division.

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Gamrot is scheduled to take on veteran contender Dan Hooker at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, on Saturday. Gamrot believes a potential victory over Hooker sets him up for an interim lightweight title fight, and then an eventual title unifier against the champ Makhachev, who is temporarily sidelined due to a hand injury.

While “Gamer” acknowledges Makhachev’s elite grappling skillset, he considers himself the best wrestler in the lightweight division. And Gamrot highlights Makhachev’s last title fight against Poirier, whom he helped train, as testament to that. Poirier gave Makhachev a stern test en route to a fifth-round submission loss at UFC 302 this past June. While cornering Poirier for the fight, Gamrot had it 2-2 going into the final frame — although the judges saw it differently. Ga…

Ricky Glenn appears to have reached a crossroads in his mixed martial arts career.

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The Marshalltown, Iowa, native has lost consecutive bouts for the first time in his professional tenure, falling to Drew Dober and Christos Giagos via KO/TKO in his last two UFC appearances. Those defeats were also the first two knockout losses of Glenn’s career, which began in 2006.

Glenn will look to return to the win column for the first time in three years when he squares off against Kenan Song in a preliminary lightweight bout at UFC 305 at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night.

“I’ve never been TKOed or KOed, so that’s kind of weird,” Glenn told UFC.com. “F—k man, you can control everything you can control, but then when you get in there, you just kind of gotta roll the dice, do the best you can do.

“Obviously the best I can do wasn’t enough, and I lost my last couple fights, and I’m just looking at this one as going in there, having fun; tryin…

Former Professional Fighters League heavyweight champion Bruno Cappelozza has been suspended one year for failing an out-of-competition drug test.

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Cappelozza tested positive for clomiphene and its metabolite, desethyl-clomifene, in a urine sample collected on April 17, 2024. Clomiphene is in the category of hormone and metabolic modulators and is banned at all times under the PFL anti-doping policy. Cappelozza will be eligible to return to active competition on April 17, 2025.

It’s the second failed drug test for Cappelozza, who tested positive for drostanolone in relation to a PFL regular season bout against Matheus Scheffel on April 7, 2023. That resulted in a nine-month suspension for the Brazilian, whose knockout of Scheffel was also overturned to a no contest.

Cappelozza returned to action for the first time since that sanction at the PFL vs. Bellator Champs event on Feb. 24, when he suffered a second-round submission loss to former Bel…

Dana White's Contender Series is officially back for another season.

All 10 competitors slated to fight on Week 1 made weight without issue ahead of their respective bouts on Monday. The show awards UFC contracts to fighters who impress Dana White with their performance.

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The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Tuesday and airs on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The evening’s featured bout is a middleweight showdown pitting Mansur Abdul-Malik (186) against Wesley Schultz (185).

Anchored at MMA Masters, Abdul Malik will take a 5-0 mark into the matchup with Schultz. He last appeared at LFA 176 on Feb. 9, when he defeated Allan St-Gelais via first-round knockout. All five of his professional triumphs have come inside of a round.

Schultz, meanwhile, has competed primarily for LFA while compiling a 6-1 record. He’s won his last three outings inside of a round, including a stoppage of Adland Benson at LFA 181 on April 5.

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While he might have been viewed as an unlikely title challenger in just his fourth Octagon appearance, Steve Erceg proved that he belonged on that stage this past May.

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The 29-year-old Australian gave Alexandre Pantoja all he could handle in the UFC 301 headliner, ultimately dropping a competitive unanimous decision to the reigning flyweight champion in Rio de Janeiro.

“Showed people that, despite the apparent pressure, I’m not going to wilt,” Erceg recently told the New York Post. “Although it looked too soon and all that nonsense, it probably wasn’t. I’m going to be a contender and then, eventually, champion one day.”

UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now! Erceg will return to action for the first time since then when he meets Kai Kara-France in the UFC 305 co-main event on Saturday at RAC Arena in Perth. A victory over another top contender could put “Astro Boy” right back into the middle of the title discussio…